Monday, April 25, 2011

Romney Waiver Plan No "Farce"

Recently, stalwart and intrepid anti-Romney blogger, Right Wing Nut penned not one, but two posts, slamming potential 2012 GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s plan to provide all 50 states with a waiver to ObamaCare, should he be elected President. RWN cited an article written by Grace Marie Turner, saying it would be illegal for Romney to undertake such a plan. Using the health care reform issue as a political football, RWN cast doubt and aspersions on Romney’s plan, labeling it a farce, based upon Ms. Turner’s claims.

However, the Referee (not Reereef) has thrown a yellow flag on RWN’s play.

And as they say in the NFL: ”Upon further review….”

It seems over at Mitt Romney Central, Jared A. has done some extensive homework and explains in clear, concise detail, exactly how The Romney Plan would work.

Turner hates MassCare, and by extension--Romney. This is what her opposition to Romney's pledge to overturn is all about. I don't know if she would have the same view if another candidate made the same pledge.

My thought at the time was that Romney, and his advisors, were not going to put out any plan on healthcare repeal that would be easy enough to shoot down that even RWN could do it in 10 minutes. REALLY? If that were the case, then he shouldn't be president.

My first thought was that's what expert legal opinion is all about, and I'm sure Romney's is immeasurably better than RWN's

I'm sure the "expert legal opinion" of my sources is immeasurably better than that of Jared from Mitt Romney Central. I didn't just pull it out of my a$$ The following is a comment I left on Jared's blog post on Saturday. He still hasn't replied.-----------------------------------------------

The executive order that Mitt proposes wouldn’t exactly do what you think. Here’s exactly what he said…

“The executive order would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and all relevant federal officials to return the maximum possible authority to the states to innovate and design health-care solutions that work best for them.”

Section 1332 (State Innovation Waiver) allows for states to come up with their own plan if it meets the following criteria:

•“provide coverage at least as comprehensive” as Obamacare;•“provide coverage and cost sharing protections against excessive out-of-pocket spending that are at least as affordable” as Obamacare; and•“provide coverage to at least a comparable number of its residents as” Obamacare.

Moreover, according to section 1332, states can’t implement their own plan until January 1, 2017.

That link also explains Section 2711 (Annual Limit Waivers). That has nothing to do with granting waivers to states.

“This waiver involves Obamacare’s minimum annual limit requirements. After January 1, 2014 the insurance companies will be barred from placing annual or lifetime limits on any health insurance plan”

I strongly disagree with your premise that an executive order can be used to override statutory law.

I wrote about this here: http://www.redstate.com/rightwingnut2/2011/04/04/mitt-romneys-obamacare-waiver-plan-is-a-farce/

In the comment section, there was some discussion around Vermont’s efforts to create their own plan. Even if passed by both the state senate and house, they would need congress to change the current law in order for them to enact it prior to January 1, 2017.

“A bigger hurdle Vermont faces is obtaining a waiver from the federal health care reform act and finding a way around federal ERISA laws — which “pre-empt states from enacting legislation if it is ‘related to’ employee benefit plans –that insurers could use to sue the state. The health reform law currently offers a waiver to states who meet certain standards by 2017; Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) has introduced an amendment that would move the waiver date up to 2014 — an idea that President Obama has endorsed”

Jared's whole argument is based on two things. One, he misread Section 2711, and failed to read Section 1332. Two, he erroneously believes that the president can usurp statutory law with an executive order.

He's completely misreading Mitt's statement.

“The executive order would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and all relevant federal officials to return the maximum possible authority to the states to innovate and design health-care solutions that work best for them.”

Mitt's executive order wouldn't be illegal if it mirrors his statement. However, it's not realistic to expect the states to comply with Section 1332. Furthermore, they can't enact their own plan until 2017 unless congress passes an amendment.

Martha, I never said Mitt was stupid. This is nothing but smoke and mirrors in an effort to divert attention from RomneyCare. Expect him to be challenged on this by his opponents or the press. We'll come back and discuss it then.

RW, I'm sorry, but yes you do think he's stupid if you believe he would resort to smoke and mirrors on the most visible weakness he is claimed to have. He will get more scrutiny on this subject than anything. He would never be so stupid or thoughtless.

Honestly, it seems like you don't bother to learn anything about him. You underestimate him, but I guess it really doesn't matter. Like I said, the only person challenging him is Turner, and she's not credible.

Barack Obama is facing a financial emergency on a grander scale. Yet his approach has been to engage in one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history. With its failed stimulus package, its grandiose new social programs, its fervor for more taxes and government regulations, and its hostility toward business, the administration has made the debt problem worse, hindered economic recovery and needlessly cost American workers countless jobs.

On health care policy, Turner is a lot more credible than a front page poster at Mitt's #1 fanboy site.

The Galen Institute is a non-profit public policy research organization devoted exclusively to advancing free-market ideas in health policy. We work to promote a more informed public debate over ideas that support innovation, individual freedom, consumer choice, and competition in the health sector.

(...)

The Galen Institute was founded by Grace-Marie Turner (then, Arnett) in 1995 to promote a conversation over free-market ideas in the health sector. Our first major conference was held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in March of 1996, and was entitled “A Fresh Approach to Health Care Reform.”

"Honestly, it seems like you don't bother to learn anything about him." Yeah, kinda like Mr. Romney did not bother to learn anything about Health care. This is maybe a funny April Fool's joke in the Onion, but in the real world, this plan does not cut the mustard.

"Romney is doing a good job of explaining how he will approach Obamacare." Wrong again, Executive Orders are not what they are cracked up to be. More to the point, if Mr. Romney would have thought things out in the first place, the country most likely would not be in the mess.